So what are your favorite kitchen surfaces? What do you have and what do you dream of having?

I've got this TERRIBLE formica-ish stuff that I desperately want to get rid of. I'd like something black but I'm not sure what. I'm not crazy about granite. In fact, I dislike it. And it seems that concrete is just as expensive unless you do it yourself (which I won't,) So yeah, let's talk counters.

I've got granite right now, which is an upgrade from the yellowing plastic junk I had in my last apartment. I like the granite better, but it shows a lot of dirt. I think I would like some sort of sealed wood counters, not practical, but pretty! That soapstone looks nice too.

I like my granite. I guess it's the color, but it's very forgiving as far as showing dirt/stains. Of course, I had 70s looking, faux wood grain, warped and buckling laminate in my last apartment so anything would be an upgrade. What I love is having the sink edge under the counter (like the soapstone pic) so that you can just wipe spills and stuff straight into the sink.

I have granite and that's what I prefer, I think, but I've seen cool stainless steel countertops in pictures! And how awesome for rolling out pastry and stuff like that. Also I bet you could put hot pans down on them with no problem. Whatever I have, I have to have something I can take a pan right off the heat and put it on the counter because now I'm so used to doing that. I accidentally did this at my mom's house (they have Formica) and made a little scorch mark on the counter because I completely forgot.

What color of granite do you all have, or is there only one color? Mine is black, and it seems that no matter how many times I clean it, something gets on there and makes it look dusty or spotty. I do like that I can cut/place whatever I want on the counters, however.

NO. Granite SUCKS. We live in a place with brand new granite countertops, and man-- it looks nice, but it dulls your knives, it breaks your dishes, it requires special treatment soas to keep random acids (like lemon juice) from etching it, you can't put hot things on it, and even the tiniest amount of stuff makes it look totally filthy. Formica might look sort of lame and low-budget, but you can USE it. These countertops, I feel like I have to observe them from a distance. It's better than the tile counters we had at our last place, which had many of the knife-destroying drawbacks of granite but also had crevices of grout that made them uneven and a massive pain to clean or to try to set things on or to use for anything that required flatness.

I'd rather have acres of butcherblock-- even check Ikea-stylee butcherblock that I'd have to sand down and re-oil every six months. I'd rather have moderately good Formica. I'd rather have basically ANYTHING other than any surface with a higher hardness than steel that can't take acids and can't take heat. Really, it's like having shoes that can't get wet-- why would you do this to yourself?

I'd rather have knotty pine! I'd rather have asbestos ceiling tiles! I'd rather have a delightful lemon tart! I'd rather have a counter upholstered with low-grade denim! I'd rather have a sheet of glass! (I've seen sinks that appeared to be basically made of glass, and they also terrified me.) I'd rather have layers and layers of flour tortillas! Just think, if you spilled your salsa you could just peel up a layer and eat it-- this would revolutionize cooking! I'd rather have a vast terrifying expanse of human flesh, gently pulsing, flushing red with heat or blistering where burned-- forgetting to put down a towel before setting a pan on the counter would require weeks of carefully changing bandages and applying antibiotic cream while it healed. And you wouldn't want your counter to get an infection, oh no. Nobody wants an inflamed countertop, and the pus would lend a sour flavor to anything prepared atop it. Not to mention if you had dry air in your house you'd need to moisturize it. Plus you'd have to make sure you got the top-quality flesh countertop-- the cheaper ones sometimes include hair follicles, and shaving your counter is terribly inconvenient, not to mention hard to clean up. Stick with name brands. Plus there was that time somebody's counter was clearly trying to communicate with them. Nobody wants a repeat of that.

What color of granite do you all have, or is there only one color? Mine is black, and it seems that no matter how many times I clean it, something gets on there and makes it look dusty or spotty. I do like that I can cut/place whatever I want on the counters, however.

Mine's like mottled black and taupe and rusty brown kind of. Nothing shows on it; I have to remember to wipe it down daily. (And it doesn't dull my knives because I don't cut on it...) A pic:

(Sorry you hate it so much, Isa! I like it loads better than the dried catshit counters I had two apartments ago!)

What color of granite do you all have, or is there only one color? Mine is black, and it seems that no matter how many times I clean it, something gets on there and makes it look dusty or spotty. I do like that I can cut/place whatever I want on the counters, however.

Mine's like mottled black and taupe and rusty brown kind of. Nothing shows on it; I have to remember to wipe it down daily. (And it doesn't dull my knives because I don't cut on it...) A pic:

(Sorry you hate it so much, Isa! I like it loads better than the dried catshit counters I had two apartments ago!)

I stopped cutting on the counters when I realized how quickly it dulled my knives. Your counter looks nicer than what I've got going over here. I will see if I can't get a picture, but its essence is Men in Black meets secret service.

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:31 pmPosts: 1565Location: In the land of Druids and Moonrakers

My dad and his wife have Corian worktops in their v. fancy kitchen, and it's beautiful: it has that solid, expensive look of granite, and it's heat proof, but it's warmer to the touch, and has a very slightly luminous quality. That's what I covet.http://corian.co.uk/Corian/en_GB/assets ... engal5.jpg

(I realise that Corian is a brand name - so I don't know if it's called something different in the US?)